The Last Supper automaton to exceed $15,000 in varied US sale?

An automaton based on Da Vinci's The Last Supper will provide one of the highlights of a unique sale in Massachusetts on June 2.

The automaton was part of the travelling London Mechanical and Electrical Exhibition, which toured the British Commonwealth in the 1920s. It shows the famous Da Vinci scene brought to life, with Jesus and the 12 disciples in serious conversation.

Attributed to Henri Phalibois, the item will feature as the star lot in a section devoted to automata, or self-operating machines, with an estimate of $10,000-15,000.

In 2007, the same auction house set a world auction record for automata of $450,000 for a pair of Jean Roullet blackamoor musicians.

The highest estimate in the sale goes to an antique astronomical regulator, a high precision pendulum clock used in observatories. Made by E. Howard & Co. in 1874, this example is the clock that was used in the actual Howard factory.

With unrivalled provenance and of great significance for horologists, the regulator is expected to make between $35,000 and $50,000.

Also joining the varied sale will be a collection of important natural history. The leading lot among the fossils will be two psittacosaurus dinosaur skeletons - a mother and its newborn baby - at £3,500-5,000.